The twelfth-century Norman poet Wace occupies an important place in medieval historiography and had an incalculable influence on medieval romance. By translating Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “history” of Britain, the
Historia Regum Britanniae, into his French verse
Roman de Brut, he instantly allowed the layman as well as the clerk access to the “information” that Britain, settled by Brutus the grandson of Aeneas, had a long and proud history whose climax was the reign of king Arthur. Wace’s work led in turn to the thirteenth-century English translation by La3amon and to numerous other Anglo-Norman and English “Bruts”; it also provided the starting-point and inspiration for the flowering of Arthurian romance.
Most of Wace’s life was spent in the domains of the dukes of
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Citation: Weiss, Judith. "Roman de Brut". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 March 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2345, accessed 27 November 2024.]
